KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, May 31: The court of the first additional district judge, Sanjay Kumar Upadhyay on Wednesday acquitted gangster Akhilesh Singh and his associate giving them the benefit of doubt in the Jairam Singh murder case.
The court had to give the accused benefit of doubt as the police could not provide the necessary witness in establishing the case.
There were in all 16 prosecution witnesses in the case including some police officials. The last hearing was held on May 17 when Vikram Sharma appeared in the court physically. Gangster Akhilesh Singh appeared during the final hearing through video conferencing from Dumka Central jail where he is presently lodged.
Earlier the court had convicted two others, Manoranjan Singh and Banti Jaiswal who were accused in the same case. Both Manoranjan and Banti were later acquitted by the Jharkhand high court.
Jairam Singh who was a retired Tata Steel security officer was shot at and fatally injured on being shot by bike-borne criminals near Baug-e-Jamsheed School in Bistupur on October 4, 2008 morning. The gunshot attack took place while Jairam Singh was returning home along with his granddaughter from Jubilee Park.
The critically-injured Jairam Singh was admitted to the Tata Main Hospital where he died in 24 hours.
In this connection, the Bistupur police had registered a case on the FIR lodged by Jairam Singh’s son.
